Travis Roy to Keynote Undergraduate Commencement

Former Hockey Player, Author Started Foundation After Injury

Contact

cleogrande@utica.edu

Utica, NY (05/01/2014)

- College commencement is often a life-changing event. For Travis Roy, life changed in eleven seconds.

On Sunday, May 18, at the Utica College undergraduate commencement ceremony, Roy will give the keynote address about the eleven seconds that left him a quadriplegic as well as conquering life’s hurdles, setting goals, and his overall experiences in life.

Eleven seconds into his first-ever shift for the Boston University men’s ice hockey team, a 20-year-old Travis Roy slid headfirst into the boards, cracking his fourth vertebra and leaving him a quadriplegic.

After months in a hospital bed, Roy found the grit to reclaim his life and write his autobiography, "Eleven Seconds."

Roy has spoken to various corporations, universities and high schools across the country. “The Travis Roy Foundation” was founded to help spinal cord injury survivors and to fund research for a cure. Since 1997, the Travis Roy Foundation has distributed more than $4.5 million in individual grants as well as touching lives with its focus on providing adaptive equipment and sponsoring research.

Utica College will celebrate its 65th Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 18 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. More than 600 UC undergraduate students are eligible to graduate.

About Utica College – Utica College, founded in 1946, is a comprehensive private institution offering bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. The College, located in upstate central New York, approximately 90 miles west of Albany and 50 miles east of Syracuse, currently enrolls over 4,000 students in 36 undergraduate majors, 27 minors, 21 graduate programs and a number of pre-professional and special programs

Fast Facts

Founded in 1946, UC is a comprehensive institution that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.